Good news - bad news to report for the month of March. The good news is that the figures tallied for the month of March illustrate a continuation of the early spring activity that showed up in February. The bad news is that this activity shows a slight dip in prices. The total sales volume was up approximately 18.3% from the 115 properties that went under agreement in February, totaling 136 new properties going under agreement during the month of March. These monthly statistics cover residential properties for the towns of Dartmouth, Fall River, Little Compton, RI, Somerset, Swansea, Tiverton, RI, and Westport. They reveal a respectable level of increase in activity of residential properties that went under agreement from 03/01/2011 through to 03/31/2011. New pending sales data for March indicate a median and average sale price of $196,500. and $229,637., respectively. Both of these prices show a slight decline. The median price is down approximately 4.1% from February 2011 while the average sale price is down a total of 3.4%. This continues the slight fluctuation in pricing that has been occuring for an extended period of time as we, seemingly, are still hovering at / near the bottom of this local real estate market cycle. With interest rates still at relatively low levels, adequate funding available to qualified applicants and continuing growth in labor markets, this is quite an opportune time to buy!